


Monsters In The Dark

by NikiAlex03



Series: Marauders-Era One Shots [7]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: background remadora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26277256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikiAlex03/pseuds/NikiAlex03
Summary: Remus encounters Fenrir Greyback the night of The Battle of Hogwarts
Relationships: Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks
Series: Marauders-Era One Shots [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1721410
Comments: 9
Kudos: 14





	Monsters In The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> Guess who discovered this little snippet -minus a few minor changes here and there- in her drafts just now. I'm pretty sure this was meant to be a drabble where Remus kills Fenrir himself, but... it became this instead.

It was too dark around this part of the castle, and even to Remus' eyes it was difficult to see exactly where he was going. He had spent many years committing every corner and curve of this castle to memory, however, so while he was in severe pain and out of breath and effectively blind to anything but the darkness looming all around him, he wasn't lost.  
Just as he felt he couldn't possibly make another step, Remus pushed himself up against a wall and cast a quick Lumos charm, clutching his wand against his chest and trying in vain to regain some semblance of control over his breathing. He'd been avoiding summoning any light, not wanting to draw any attention to himself. He needed some time to recover, assess his injuries...

His feet gave way beneath him, sending him to the ground with a groan that he immediately winced for. _Too loud._

In the distance, the unmistakable sounds of a war in full motion could be heard, and Remus felt like a coward for having run away, leaving behind his friends, his _wife_ , even as he knew his injuries would have made him practically useless and that escaping, if only for a moment, was the smarter thing to do.

He pressed his hand against his side where he had been hit, pulling it away to find it coated in blood. Remus swore under his breath as he pushed through the clutter of his brain and mumbled off several quick healing spells, wand angled at the spot that had been hurt the worst. None of them seemed to work, and he was bleeding so profusely he knew that if he didn't die tonight by the end of someone's wand, he would surely die from this. He didn't know which was worse.

Suddenly something caught Remus' attention, and he whispered a quick _"Nox"_.  
  
He sensed Greyback's presence before anything else and immediately clambered back to his feet -too quickly, he noted, as his injury sent shots of red hot pain through his body- and stood silently against the darkness.

The impact of another body against his came suddenly, lunging him back to the ground, and Remus, despite being in excruciating pain, shoved his wish for merciful rest aside and fought back as best he could. The unmistakable scent of Fenrir Greyback surrounded him, and Remus sent a feeble fist flying his way that Greyback ducked easily. 

He wasn't getting out of this. He had nothing left. He was going to die like this.

Greyback hovered over him, and Remus was yanked back to that night, so many years ago. He remembered it exactly, even as he had spent all that time actively trying to forget. Greyback wasn't the type of person - _could he even be called a person?_ \- that one typically forgot.

"Well, well," Greyback purred into Remus' ear, "I thought it was you."

Remus ground his teeth together in a snarl. He couldn't see the figure that was pinning him down; could only feel him, the weight of Greyback's body keeping Remus' firmly in place, and in that moment Remus felt as though he were nothing more than exactly what he had been in the room of his parent's cottage. A scared, helpless, weak little boy.

"No need to be hostile." Greyback said as Remus attempted, again in vain, to roll away, "You're hurt."

"Get... off... of... me." Remus pressed out. Every word felt like a knife stabbing into him. Greyback laughed.

"Look at you." He said scornfully, "I offered you so many opportunities and yet you choose... this."

"I'd choose this a million times over being anything like you."

"You're a fool."

"And you're a monster." 

Greyback laughed again, a hearty, gleeful sound, and it made the hair on the back of Remus' neck stand up. He hated him. _Hated_ him. With every fiber of his being, as much as it was possible to hate another person. For everything he had endured since he was a child. For the childhood he had had ripped away from him, the life he would never get to have. For the life that he had built for himself anyway, against all odds, with a _wife_ and a _child_ , that Fenrir most likely planned to rip him away from before he'd even gotten to experience it to its full extent.

"You're as good as dead." Fenrir said icilly, pressing into Remus' wound. Remus screamed.

"I _made_ you, Remus Lupin," Fenrir snarled, "If I am a monster, then so are you."

Remus was panting in harsh breaths now, only the tiniest tendril of his pride keeping him from begging-

And then the pressure was gone.  
  
Remus felt Fenrir's weight moving off of him. He fought through the now unbearable pain, telling himself that he'd endured worse than this during his transformations, and reached out immediately towards where his wand had gone flying across the floor. Remus peered up at the shadow of the figure looming above him. When he realized with a sinking feeling that his wand wasn't anywhere close to him, and that he really was truly helpless in this moment, he shut his eyes and prepared for the outcome he knew was inevitable.

It never came.

He listened to the silence for what felt like an eternity until, finally, he managed to reopen his eyes. Greyback had crouched down so his face was inches away from Remus'. 

"I'm not going to kill you." He said slowly, "I'd bet that's what you're hoping for. But no."

Remus did not have the time to process this information, before Greyback stood and delivered a sharp kick to Remus' side, his foot connecting exactly to the point where Remus was injured.

"You're as good as dead, anyway."

And then he was gone, leaving Remus on the floor, coughing blood and clutching his aching wound. 

Remus tried to keep his eyes open, tried to talk himself into sitting up, to finding his wand, to eventually heading back out to battle, but all he could do was lie there. Every part of him hurt. He didn't know what he'd been struck with, but it had severely weakened him, and Greyback's additional torture had only worsened the pain.

Part of him hoped for death, and when it came in the form of Antonin Dolohov not more than ten minutes later, Remus died looking up at the high ceilings of the building he'd called home.

A silent apology to his son was his last conscious thought.


End file.
